In 3048 six former Rim Worlds Republic worlds signed the Rim Collection Charter in hope of becoming a true state to be reckoned with, naming the world Gillfillan's Gold as capital of their new nation.

In the first decade of its existence, conditions in the Rim Collection steadily improved. The confederated planets started trading grains and iron ore with the Federated Commonwealth in 3053, trade relations continuing with the Lyran Alliance. Planetary Councilman Roberts also opened trade negotiations between Gillfillan's Gold and the Free Worlds League, with the promise of extending all trading rights to the rest of the Collection if he succeeded. However, the immense degree of autonomy given to member worlds by the charter slowed the pace of government to a crawl. Professor Moroney, seeing more possibilities for economic expansion with more centralized government control, pushied for a temporary expansion of the president's powers to allow the revitalization of Star League era tourist attraction Hunter's Paradise. While some members of the council were opposed to any change in the balance of power between the president and council, with Councilman Roberts' elevation to president Moroney's plan found traction. Reopened in 3057, Hunter's Paradise was just beginning to attract the interstellar clientele it once did long ago and becoming the Collection's cash cow in the process, when the FedCom Civil War and Blakist'sJihad disrupted interstellar travel to the Collection. While still luring the intrepid, the volume of secondary trade such visitors brought to the Collection as a in the years of peace has greatly declined.

Militarily, the Collection hired the Able's Acesmercenary unit to defend against pirate attacks against the newly formed nation, the unit admirably fending off raids on Caldarium and Slewis by Morrison's Extractors and eventually crippling the pirate band, as well as training the Rim Collection Militia on each of the six worlds of the Collection to bolster the two Battalions worth of serviceable BattleMechs the nation has been able to outfit.

The only sour note has been the Aces' response to the efforts by a few councilmen for the Collection to hire more mercenaries, with the Aces stonewalling these efforts as unwanted encroachment on what they consider their turf. However, the Aces' interference with the Collection Council also had an immense positive benefit, Colonel Able's constant insistence on refusing the Word of Blake's enticements to join them in the Jihad allowing the Rim Collection to avoid the fate suffered by the Circinus Federation. [1] By 3081 the Rim Collection was building its own BattleMechs on Otisberg, although the 'Mechs were based on RetroTech technology.[2]

The Collection claimed Hunter's Paradise formally in 3099 - backing the claim with the posting of a company of Able's Aces, and proceeded to open a recharge station at the system zenith jump point. To make access to Hunter's Paradise easier, the Rim Collection went further into debt to establish the Able's Glory system, originally as a waystation for JumpShip servicing and as a site from which to provide greater security for travelling researchers. The cost of the two efforts was the driving reason in the decision to break away from the Collective made by Caldarium and Slewis, but Able's Glory - named for Colonel Frank Able, now a beloved figure in the Collection - proved to be a source of immense quantities of germanium. That germanium proved an economic boom, with the Collection actively trading the germanium to the Lyran Commonwealth, while the increased accessibility to Hunter's Paradise and the additional security available to those travelling there prompted increasing amounts of interstellar investment in the Collection.[5]

During the Dark Age the Rim Collection's military industrial base expanded slightly; Rim Motors of Otisberg began producing quantities of light BattleMechs, drawing in part on weapons produced by the main manufacturer of military hardware within the Collection, the newly-formed Able's Hunting Arms, Limited. AHA - which was owned and operated by Able's Aces - was ostensibly the manufacturer of personal weapons and 'Mech-grade machine guns and autocannon for the personal security of those intending to visit Hunter's Paradise, but continued to provide the greater part of its production directly to Rim Motors.[6]

The role of Able's Aces within the Collection continued to grow during the Dark Age; in addition to being the core of the Rim Collection Militia and the owners and operators of AHA, the commander of the Aces controlled not one, but two votes on the Rim Collection council - one due to the military position occupied by the Able's Aces, and a second as the representative for Able's Glory. More than just a military unit, the Aces grew to occupy a position as celebrities as well as skilled warriors.[7]

The Rim Collection's trade base continued to expand; personnel from the Collection travelled as far as the Marshalry Academy in the Fronc Reaches, both as students and as lecturers.[8]